the Black Army of Nestor Makhno

[Jawn Disease]

I'm not done yet but I'm writing a song about Nestor. It's gonna be a bunch longer

The Russians and Germans were fighting for plunder
Ukraine was surrendered to powers abroad
Its factories and coal-mines, its workers and lumber
Were needed to fight for the glory of God
We who were living and minding our business
in farms and in villages through the Ukraine
were robbed of our rights by the strongest and richest
working though we did through the sun and the rain

When they plunder and pillage
And burn down your village
Conscript all your brothers
And steal what you grow
When they chase you from town
You’ve got nowhere to go
But the army, Black Army
of Nestor Makhno!

The Whites and the Reds were all lying and scheming
And butchering peasants like chickens and cows
Their ears were immune to our screaming and pleading
They said ‘Run away and we won’t kill you now’
So we ran from our village, my sisters and I
Through the forests so cold and the fields so damp
Til we saw the black flag flying so high
And we knew we’d arrived at the anarchist camp

When they torture and murder
The farmers and herders
Expropriate homes
And extend their control
When they chase you from town
You’ve got nowhere to go
But the army, Black Army
of Nestor Makhno

Well the Bolsheviks said they were here for our help
They would set up a state run by peasants and poor
But their flag was as red as the blood that they’d spilt
Of the peasants and poor that they’d killed in their war
The Whites tried to tell us of the communist threat
They were Godless and never would tell us the truth
They’d cheat us and kill us asleep in our beds
But we knew that the Whites would surely do that too!

When they’re both just as bad
As the lords that you’ve had
And they’re dealing you blow
After blow after blow
When they chase you from town
You’ve got nowhere to go
But the army, Black Army
of Nestor Makhno!

When me and my sisters at long last arrived
We saw that the soldiers were hungry and sore
But their faces were happy, their eyes shone with pride
For they fought in the name of the workers and poor!
They gave us guns from Austrian convoys
Bullets and blankets and food and some wine
In the morning a man yelled “Wake up, come on, boys!
We’re going to fight at the Bolshevik lines!”

[Maggot]

Cool lyrics.

[Hugo]

I'm never sure what to make of the romantization of anarchist leaders like Nestor Makno. Certainly he had, at least at some points, good intentions. But it was war. In my own family (and our roots are German mennonites born and raised in Ukraine), the black army were known as bandits. They pillaged villages for supplies to support their cause and they killed those who got in the way. While my great-grandfather may have been murdered by Stalinists during the process of collectivization, his wife's three brothers were butchered by the back army bandits who plundered his village to support their own resistance effort. Hardly the deeds of heroes.

[Jawn Disease]

Yep he was probably a bastard but I wanted to write a song about it.

[AndyMalroes]

When they plunder and pillage
And burn down your village

TROGDOOOOR!!!!